Last week a House of Lords Commission called for £8bn of extra spending to be paid for out of general taxation.

On Thursday, The Resolution Foundation hosted Green, the Liberal Democrat former care minister Norman Lamb and Labour’s former shadow care minister Liz Kendall, to discuss ideas to tackle the social care crisis.

The three different speakers all agreed that it was not possible to carry on as we are.

But there were significant differences within their proposals of what must change.

What was discussed?

Damian Green advocates basic state provision for all while encouraging those who can to pay for additional provision. They might pay premiums over several years like an insurance policy or pension. Or they might make a one-off payment.

Councils can use their commissioning powers to improve the care market.

They could use ethical care charters to insist on a voice for unions representing the workforce, to prevent zero hours contracts and paid training and supervision. This could apply throughout the supply chain.

If they were allowed to borrow at less than market rate from the Public Works Loan Board, they could build new facilities, improving the supply and stimulating the local construction industry, with knock-on effects across the economy.

The opportunities are huge.

3. Rethinking funding

OK, it is about funding too. The funding crisis in social care is a regular feature of budget debates. And for good reason.

We’ve got an ageing population; the number of people aged 65 + increased by a quarter between 2008 and 2018.

As Liz Kendall pointed out on Thursday, within a decade we will need to find £6bn just to maintain our present, and insufficient services.

At the moment the funding for social care means some people with very low income receive means tested support.

Some people with significant income or personal wealth can pay for a good level of care and the majority of people in the middle just hope they never face the potentially catastrophic costs of significant care needs.

The TUC has been arguing for a tax funded national care service for years. This should be fully integrated with the NHS. It’s the best way of sharing out the risk of significant care needs across society.

One estimate from The Kings Fund suggested that we would need to increase spending on social care from 9.7% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to 11.3% GDP by 2025. That’s not a small amount, but other European nations already do it.

Conclusion

Social care is in a bad way. But we should use this opportunity to rethink how it’s structured, how we fund it and the role it plays not just for recipients but for the community and the economy.

Then we can build a system that all of us, whichever party we support, can be proud of.

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